The present disclosure relates to a robot, for example a handling robot for opening and closing doors or bonnets of motor vehicle bodies during a painting process.
In addition, the present disclosure relates to a corresponding operating method for a robot of this type.
In modern painting plants for motor vehicle bodies, the motor vehicle bodies to be painted are generally transported with doors and bonnets installed through the painting plant and painted by a multi-axis painting robot. For the internal painting of the motor vehicle bodies, the doors and bonnets are opened by a multi-axis handling robot and closed again after the internal painting is completed. For this purpose, the handling robots typically comprise handling tools in the form of grippers that are able to grip the doors or bonnets to be opened.
It is problematic in this context that the handling tools (grippers) of the handling robots are exposed to the spray jet of the painting robot and are therefore soiled by the applied paint.
A painting robot itself is also typically soiled by the spray jet applied, because the painting robot cannot be completely prevented from travelling through the spray jet applied by itself or by a neighbouring painting robot.
For one thing, this soiling of the robots by paint can lead to paint dripping from the soiled surfaces of the robots and onto the components to be painted in the worst case, which would lead to damage to the previously applied paint layer. This danger also exists in the case of dried overspray in a powder form, which can reach the motor vehicle body to be painted from the handling robot (e.g. door opener, bonnet opener); this can be caused, for example, by booth air, movements of the robots or vibrations.
For another thing, the paint adhesions on the robot, e.g., on surfaces used to manipulate closure panels such as doors or hoods, should be removed when a colour is changed in order to avoid subsequent soiling by the paint adhesions of a different colour. This is only unnecessary if the handling tools (e.g. grippers) grip surfaces of the motor vehicle body that are not to be painted, as is currently usual.
In the conventional painting plants for motor vehicle bodies, the painting operation is regularly interrupted for this reason, so that the robot soiled with paint can be cleaned manually, e.g., by the maintenance staff.
For one thing, a disadvantage of this manual cleaning method is the fact that the painting operation must be interrupted to clean the robot, thereby reducing the economic viability of the painting plant.
For another thing, dust or dirt enters the painting booth at each cleaning of the robot, because the maintenance staff who have to enter the painting booth to clean the handling robot always bring at least some residual dust in their clothing and on their bodies (e.g. on the parts of the body not covered by protective clothing, such as the face, the neck and the hair). This leads to the fact that painting faults, which have to be touched up expensively, occur increasingly after the automatic robot has been cleaned, in the case of conventional painting plants.
In addition, reference must also be made to DE 601 25 369 T2, GB 2 367 119 A, US 2002/0035413 A1, DE 32 44 053 A1, EP 1 327 485 A2 and DE 41 29 778 A1 concerning the state of the art.
The underlying object of the exemplary illustrations is therefore to create a correspondingly improved robot and to specify an associated operating method.